In this specification where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.
Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,724 discloses an etch processor for etching a wafer that includes an ESC for holding a wafer and a temperature sensor reporting a temperature of the wafer. The chuck includes a heater controlled by a temperature control system and a temperature sensor is operatively coupled to the temperature control system to maintain the temperature of the ESC at a selectable set-point temperature. A first set-point temperature and a second set-point temperature are selected. The wafer is placed on the chuck and set to the first set-point temperature. The wafer is then processed for a first period of time at the first set-point temperature and for a second period of time at the second set-point temperature.
Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,014 discloses a ESC for a plasma processor comprising a temperature-controlled base, a thermal insulator, a flat support, and a heater. The temperature-controlled base has a temperature below the desired temperature of a substrate. The thermal insulator is disposed over the temperature-controlled base. The flat support holds a substrate and is disposed over the thermal insulator. A heater is embedded within the flat support and/or disposed on an underside of the flat support and includes a plurality of heating elements that heat a plurality of corresponding heating zones. The power supplied and/or temperature of each heating element is controlled independently.
Commonly-owned U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0092072 discloses a heating plate for a substrate support assembly in a semiconductor plasma processing apparatus comprising multiple independently controllable planar heater zones arranged in a scalable multiplexing layout, and electronics to independently control and power the planar heater zones.
Thus, there is a need for a component of a substrate support assembly, such as a substrate support assembly comprising an ESC or edge ring, which is capable of making spatial corrections and/or adjustments to the azimuthal plasma processing rate non-uniformity to correct for film thickness variation, etch chamber induced etch rate non-uniformity and large magnetic field (from plasma generation) induced non-uniformity.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicant in no way disclaims these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass or include one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.